Jump to content

Transfusion Medicine Director


woebegone1997

Recommended Posts

My hospital network has had the benefit of the same transfusion medicine director's expertise and consistency for decades, but we are now preparing for her retirement. Obviously the qualifications and responsibilities of the TM director are driven by the accrediting and regulatory bodies, but we are surveying the practices of other hospitals/hospital networks for best practices of the transfusion medicine profession as we re-build this position. We would especially like to hear from institutions that are similar to ours: our network currently consists of 4 hospitals, the largest of which has about 800 beds, adult level 1 trauma, a children’s hospital, pediatric level 2 trauma, and level 3 NICU. We do most of our own work-ups in the blood bank, and send out only the most complicated testing to the reference lab. Please share your responses to my questions, if you are willing. Thanks!


Brief description of your facility:


Do you have pathologist(s) whose primary or sole responsibility is TM/BB? 


How many? 


Do they all take on-call?


For what kind of issues? (We notify our TM director when we have to issue incompatible blood due to WAAs; severe transfusion reactions; clinical decisions; when emergently released products end up being incompatible; to ask her to speak to attending physicians; etc.)


Any other useful or interesting things to consider?
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My condolences on losing your Medical Director.  Only rarely have I come across one who was very conversant with the ins/outs of Transfusion Medicine, particularly the serological aspects of advanced blood banking.  They are out there.  I have recently taken over as an interim manager for a 3 hospital group.  We have 6 pathologists.  Between them they have a very good understanding of transfusion medicine.  They rely on my technical expertise in the serology that we perform and the advanced testing I expect to be bringing to their table.  My docs all take call but they appreciate that now I field the majority of questions - only sending them the Medical decisions.  (I told them that I am not averse to making one of those calls in a very urgent situation but that they would definitely have the final say).  I hope your facility takes its time or really performs as aggressive search for someone well-versed in the field.  I have worked in large, tertiary care places where they tell the residents (and sometimes the on call MDs) do what the BB tech tells you.

Good luck

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 1:30 PM, woebegone1997 said:

David, are you the only one who takes call, or do you share on call with your supervisors?

I don't take call, I take calls . . .  I am in California as a consultant and am not licensed so all I am able to do is manage.

The BB is 24/7 and someone is on call should it hit the fan on the night shift.

In my previous position I was the only one who took call - primarily due to expertise but also because I lived the closest (probably more so because I was salaried so got no on call pay)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/27/2016 at 11:32 AM, woebegone1997 said:

My hospital network has had the benefit of the same transfusion medicine director's expertise and consistency for decades, but we are now preparing for her retirement. Obviously the qualifications and responsibilities of the TM director are driven by the accrediting and regulatory bodies, but we are surveying the practices of other hospitals/hospital networks for best practices of the transfusion medicine profession as we re-build this position. We would especially like to hear from institutions that are similar to ours: our network currently consists of 4 hospitals, the largest of which has about 800 beds, adult level 1 trauma, a children’s hospital, pediatric level 2 trauma, and level 3 NICU. We do most of our own work-ups in the blood bank, and send out only the most complicated testing to the reference lab. Please share your responses to my questions, if you are willing. Thanks!


Brief description of your facility:


Do you have pathologist(s) whose primary or sole responsibility is TM/BB? 


How many? 


Do they all take on-call?


For what kind of issues? (We notify our TM director when we have to issue incompatible blood due to WAAs; severe transfusion reactions; clinical decisions; when emergently released products end up being incompatible; to ask her to speak to attending physicians; etc.)


Any other useful or interesting things to consider?
 

Currently at a small community hospital; about 130 beds. We have a Pathologist that oversees the whole lab, but Transfusion Medicine is not his strength. He is part of a group, which he can reach out to in a given case. I typically take most calls, because they are mainly technical questions. We have all generalist that are trained in Blood Banking and always have questions. 

I previously worked at a level 1 trauma hospital and we had 1 Pathologist and 1 Transfusion Medicine Director. We had guidelines as to when to call either of them or both of them. Guidelines to call the Director were mainly technical or equipment issues. Guidelines for the Pathologist were for suspected transfusion reactions, attending inquiry, etc...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Advertisement

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.